Before Hurricane Fiona hit, Puerto Ricans were being subjected to nearly daily power outages that were burning out generators, leaving hospital patients at risk, and forcing children to do their homework under flashlights. For this state of misery under the LUMA Energy consortium, households and businesses were issued SEVEN rate hikes—in one year alone. This abuse is unconscionable. After more than 100 organizations sent letters to the Commonwealth and Federal governments, and to Congress, and after attempts by legislators in the Island to withhold funding from LUMA Energy were blocked by a Congressionally-imposed fiscal control board, Puerto Ricans en masse took to the streets. Their demand that went unheeded: Cancel the LUMA contract. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, we echo the call of the people being harmed by this bad contract and incompetent service provider. Do right by the people by canceling this contract before Nov. 30th. Otherwise LUMA will be locked in for 15 years. In fact, all you have to do is not sign any renewal contract. To President Biden and Congress, we say Puerto Rico MUST have a sustainable and clean, renewable energy grid that is reliable, hurricane or not. The federal government should take immediate steps so that what should have been done after Hurricane Maria is accomplished. Federal reconstruction funding to rebuild the electricity grid should be required to be used for only sustainable and clean, renewable energy projects, not dirty, polluting fossil fuels. FEMA should reprogram the tens of billions already available in disaster funding to municipalities and NGOs. As energy experts advise, Congress should move to cancel all or a substantial portion of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s debt. FEMA officials recently testified that out of $13 billion available in US grid reconstruction funds, only $40 million had been disbursed, FIVE years after Hurricane Maria. Enough is enough! Please join the demands of the people of Puerto Rico: #CancelLUMA, #CleanGrid4PR #CommunityDrivenRecovery

Hydrofluoric acid is one of the most dangerous chemicals used by industry and ranks as one of the most toxic chemicals that might likely be targeted for intentional release by terrorists using explosives. 19,000,000 people live within the lethal-risk area of the 42 refineries still using and transporting HF. These refineries are located throughout the United States. HF is extremely harmful through any route of exposure. A large release of HF would kill thousands, impact hospitals and threaten national security. Accidents and deaths have occurred from contact with HF. Victims have died or have damaged organs by just a splash of HF. Cities have been evacuated because of HF leaks. HF is shipped in trucks, trains and ships. A regulation requiring refineries to convert from HF to one of the much safer, modern alternatives would eliminate the hazards posed by the threat of an accident within the refinery and daily highway transport of massive amounts of HF to refineries. We are all affected by the refineries and the transportation of HF. Let's change this and require the remaining 42 refineries to convert to these safer alternatives.

Corporations love to make big sweeping public announcements about “going green” and then taking victory laps in the press without making real, concrete changes to address climate change. Take General Motors for example. Last year they unveiled their plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. Which sounds good on paper until you realize the process to make aluminum for cars generates about 1.1 billion tons of CO2 emissions.1 And with the rising adoption of electric vehicles, demand for aluminum is expected to explode in the coming decades.2 Tell General Motors CEO to walk the walk when it comes to climate change and commit to sourcing only carbon-free aluminum! Sign the petition! Right now China is the biggest aluminum producer and they use coal-powered electricity to drive the process. This generates a massive carbon footprint for a country that is already the world leader in greenhouse gas emissions.3 But it doesn’t have to be this way. Suppliers can make aluminum using renewable energy-powered electricity and stop relying on coal. They can also use recycled aluminum which generates only 5% of the carbon emissions.4 Not only are the current aluminum supply chains dirty from a climate perspective, they’re also dirty from a human rights perspective. Early this year, General Motors was found to have ties with Chinese aluminum suppliers in the Xinjang region, known to use forced labor from Uyghur muslims.5 Just as bad, the bauxite needed to make aluminum has created a strip mining industry that has devastated the health and livelihoods of Indigenous communities across Africa, Asia and Australia.6 General Motors is a world leader in the automotive industry. If they demand their suppliers to decarbonize, the industry will follow. And when it comes to climate, we can’t afford to wait for corporations to just decide to do the right thing. We have to push them. Tell General Motors CEO to walk the walk when it comes to climate change and commit to sourcing only carbon-free aluminum! Sign the petition! Sources: 1. Center for Strategic & International Studies, “Decarbonizing Aluminum: Rolling Out a More Sustainable Sector,” February 25, 2022. 2. Ibid. 3. BBC, “Report: China emissions exceed all developed nations combined,” May 7, 2021. 4. BloombergNEF, “Green Aluminum is Competitive Today. It’s Time to Start Transforming,” June 16, 2021. 5. Washington Post, “Automaker suppliers linked to controversial labor programs in Chinese aluminum industry, report says,” April 8, 2022. 6. Human Rights Watch, “Aluminum: The Car Industry’s Blind Spot,” July 22, 2021.

A Trump-era prosecutor who targeted Chinese academics without proof of a crime could be facing a big promotion in the US court system. Civil rights and Asian American groups are furious. We’re joining the call to stop his nomination. Casey Arrowood was the first prosecutor to use Trump’s racist “China Initiative” to target academics of Chinese origin. And he was relentless. The Biden administration ended the “China Initiative,” calling it “biased” and “flawed.” But now Casey Arrowood could be promoted for using it against the Chinese immigrant community. Unless we speak up to stop it. Sign the petition: Tell the Senate to oppose Casey Arrowood’s nomination! The “China Initiative” was created to root out economic espionage from China, but instead this policy was weaponized for overzealous prosecution against Asian academics. Casey Arrowood used the “China Initiative” to go after Dr. Anming Hu. With only a Chinese press release translated poorly via Google as evidence, Casey Arrowood accused Dr. Hu of being a spy. He then placed Dr. Hu and his teenage son under FBI surveillance for over a year. When the surveillance didn’t turn up any evidence of espionage Casey Arrowood tried to mount a wire fraud case against Dr. Hu that was so weak a federal judge had it tossed out. Casey Arrowood should not be allowed to practice law, let alone get promoted to the US Attorney’s office. Demand Progress has long led the fight against this exact kind of government surveillance abuse. Now we’re standing with civil rights groups, elected officials, and academics to demand that the Senate block Casey Arrowood’s nomination. Will you join us? Sign the petition: Tell the Senate to oppose Casey Arrowood’s nomination! Sources: 1. Tennessee Lookout, “Falsely accused University of Tennessee professor: Biden should rescind U.S. Attorney nomination,” August 11, 2022.

A Trump appointee – who somehow still has a job at Homeland Security – is refusing to cooperate with the January 6th Committee about the missing Secret Service text messages during the insurrection at the Capitol. Joseph Cuffari is the Inspector General at Homeland Security, which means he’s supposed to investigate any potential wrongdoing in the agency. Instead he’s blocking the investigation into Secret Service agents’ texts sent while Trump’s mob stormed the Capitol. If Joseph Cuffari refuses to do his job, then he shouldn’t have that job. Period. Sign the petition: Tell President Biden to remove Homeland Security IG Joseph Cuffari! Trump appointees should have been removed from their jobs on Day 1 of Biden’s Presidency. Instead Trump cronies like Joseph Cuffari and Louis DeJoy are abusing their positions of power. For Louis DeJoy that means trying his level best to dismantle the Post Office. For Joseph Cuffari that means standing in the way of finding out what really happened on January 6th. Joseph Cuffari isn’t just refusing to testify before the January 6th Committee, he’s also refusing to provide documents relating to the missing Secret Service text messages, and refusing to allow his employees to be interviewed.1 Simply put: he’s standing in the way, and he needs to be removed. The American people deserve to know the full truth of what happened on January 6th. We need to know who was involved in planning and who could have intervened to stop it, but didn’t. We need the full picture because our very democracy is at stake. Only one person has the power to remove Joseph Cuffari as Homeland Security IG, and it’s President Biden. Sign the petition: Tell President Biden to remove Homeland Security IG Joseph Cuffari! Sources: 1. NBC News, “Top Democrats say Trump-appointed inspector general is not helping with inquiry into missing Secret Service texts,” August 16, 2022.

Physicians perpetrating violence against women, co-workers, and intimate partners need to be held accountable by the institutions created to do so. We cannot continue to condone domestic violence within our own licensing practices. The Texas Medical Board must act! For additional updates, engagement and access to the recent media coverage, please go to the "Do No Harm" website at: https://www.theuncooperative.org or follow RESPOND Against Violence on Instagram. Consider showing additional support on January 18th, as we support Domestic Violence Awareness by wearing Purple! If you or someone you know may be experiencing domestic violence, please know the resources. The Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224. and the website includes valuable resources: https://www.thehotline.org

It is impossible to tackle the climate crisis without eliminating the use of single-use plastic.

The herbicide atrazine is making frogs croak — and not in a good way. Because it's so widely used across the United States for weed control on crops, concentrations of atrazine in many rivers, ponds and streams are so high they can kill amphibians. If we don't stop using this chemical, imperiled species including dusky gopher frogs and Illinois chorus frogs could be driven to extinction. Atrazine has to be banned, and you can help. This poison's so dangerous it's already illegal in 44 countries across the world. It chemically castrates male frogs at concentrations lower than what's allowed in our drinking water. And in people, exposure to it correlates with elevated cancer risks, irregular menstrual cycles, and low sperm counts. We must ban this toxic chemical once and for all.

Homelessness will continue to grow, unless radical change is made. The bandages that we have placed over this issue have all come unhinged and it needs to be dealt with in a way that is empathetic and strategic. This proposal will remove the problem element (Village E) out of cities and away from children/families. This will also impact certain crime statistics, dealing with petty theft and larceny. This solution will also provide relief on the already taxed criminal justice system, that locks people up that need treatment. With respect to welfare, Villagers A,B& C will be taught self sufficiency and they will have the option to gain skills that can be used in and outside of the village. This will allow the government to reduce aid for them over time as they follow their growth plans. Once they have achieved self sufficiency, they will be provided a one-time stipend to rent a section 8 apartment (paying 60% market rent for a capped timeframe).

Justice Thomas has failed to recuse himself from cases pertaining to the 2020 election before, with disastrous results. In January 2021, Clarence Thomas was the only justice who sided with Trump in a case determining whether the January 6th Committee could access Trump White House records. Just two months later, we learned the extent of his wife’s involvement in the Trump coup attempt. Ginni Thomas texted with Mark Meadows about the insurrection and pressured lawmakers at the state and federal levels to throw out the fairly-determined election results. Clarence Thomas’s shameless dissent in Trump’s favor shows there’s no way he could rule fairly on Moore v. Harper. He must recuse himself! Sign the petition: Justice Clarence Thomas must recuse himself from Moore v. Harper!

The PRESS Act passed the House with bipartisan unanimous support. And when the same legislation was introduced in previous years, it’s enjoyed support from Republicans — including Mike Pence. It’s obvious that if Senate Republicans oppose the legislation now, it won’t be because of policy concerns. It will be out of fear of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies — the same ones that put our press corps at risk. The Protect Reporters from Excessive State Suppression (PRESS) Act would shield journalists from being forced to give up sources and block government seizure of phone and email records. These rights are absolutely essential in any functioning democracy. With just days left in this session of Congress, the Senate must seize this opportunity to defend our democracy before it’s too late! Sign the petition: The Senate must pass the PRESS Act, legislation safeguarding a free and independent press!

Members of Congress may have profited off the pandemic using insider information. Since March 2020, momentum has been building to finally ban Members from trading individual stocks while in office — but time is running out. House Democrats have been promising a final proposal to ban Congressional stock trading all summer. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi must bring a strong proposal to the floor now, before the end of the Congressional session! Corruption in Congress has been an issue since long before the pandemic. But in March 2020, Members’ apparent profiteering got more brazen than ever. Senator Richard Burr sold hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stocks after receiving a briefing on the severity of COVID-19. He warned rich donors at a private luncheon of the oncoming COVID crisis — but failed to warn his constituents, or support legislative action that would remediate the crisis. We called for Burr to be investigated by the SEC and the Senate Ethics committee. To date, he has faced no consequences for his actions. Neither have three other senators who may have profited from insider information as the pandemic was unfolding. The current laws governing Congressional stock trading are too weak – and are rarely enforced. That’s why we need a ban on Members of Congress owning and trading all individual stocks while in office. Members have an incentive to make the policy as weak as possible — but they’re vulnerable to grassroots pressure. We must be clear: the Congressional stock trading ban must require Members, their spouses, and their top aides to divest ALL ownership of individual stocks while in office! Sign the petition: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi must bring legislation to ban Congressional stock trading and ownership to the floor immediately!